about the book
Meet math whiz and natural-born leader Jo; doe-eyed girly-girl April; nervous punk-rocker Mal; sweet natured Molly; and wild child Ripley. They are five teen besties who are assigned to the same Lumberjane Scouts’ cabin during this summer’s Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types.
Each girl is fun and unique…and just a little bit offbeat and weird! They are all different shapes, colors, and temperaments, and rally around the call “Friendship to the max!” Unfortunately, Jen, their incredibly stern camp counselor has absolutely no patience for their shenanigans. She is keeping a close eye on these rascally black sheep!
Though the camp is far from the average summer experience, it fits the girls to a T. Lately, though, strange things have been happening around the camp, and though Rosie, the laidback Scout Leader, knows what is going on, she is not talking—especially after the girls witness the most unusual occurrence. Late one night while working on their “up all night” badges, an old woman transforms into a giant bear! Risking Counselor Jen’s ire, these plucky and kick-butt campers decide to follow the unusual bear into the woods
Sticking to the Lumberjane’s Field Manual, the girls are ready to tackle any challenge. Each girl has a special skill that helps the group conquer each clue, puzzle, and paranormal obstacle they encounter. They just didn’t expect to run into a boy’s camp, dangerous rapids, a river monster, a strange lighthouse, hipster a secret trap-laden cave, arm-wrestling statues—and more!
Who says camp isn’t fun!
about the author
Grace Ellis is probably best known for her writing on the Lumberjanes series and for her work on the Autostraddle, a LGBTQ website. When this proud gay native of Ohio is not at her desk writing, she spends her time outdoors, enjoying nature. She never read comics as a kid and only later became interested in the really weird stuff like A Softer World. And she didn’t start writing comics until she began hanging out with Shannon Watters. Before that, she was into script writing for television and movies. Now she has a notebook full of ideas for new comics
The Lumberjane’s first all-ages graphic novel collects comic book issues one through four. The idea for the series came from Boom! editor Shannon Watters when she was looking for stories about girls. Ross Richie (Kaboom CEO) and Grace Ellis helped her flesh out the idea and Grace agreed to write the project along with Noelle Stevenson. Brooke A. Allen did the character design and agreed to work with Shannon on the illustrations.
The project was first envisioned as a mini-series, but the amazing fan response forced the team to expand on the original story line. They picked up tiny threads that had been layered in the first plot line and expanded on them, leading to a bigger mystery that delves into the camp’s strange past, present, and future. Be warned, reader, there is a lot of cool stuff in store in future issues!
The character Ripley got her name from the movie Alien, Jo got her name from Little Women, and April came from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mal and Molly happened because the writers just wanted names that went well together. Rosie, from Rosie the Riveter, needed to be a real badass woman. And Jen was Jen just because it had to be a super common name that Rosie could easily forget. It was Grace’s idea to throw in a lot of pop culture references.
Sources:
Author interview: Capeless Crusader
Author blog: Tumblr
Lumberjanes page: Wikipedia
Also by Grace Ellis:
Lumberjanes (Books 10-17) with Noelle Stevenson. Boom! Box. 2015.
Lumberjanes (Books 2-9) with Noelle Stevenson. Boom! Box. 2015.
about the author
Noelle Stevenson was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Who knew that by the age of 23, this southern girl would be making major waves in the comic book industry?
Even before she graduated from the Maryland Institute of Art, Noelle drew attention to her cartoon creations. Back in 2012, she and a friend began exchanging sketches of the male superhero Hawkeye in the same sexy poses that are traditionally used for female characters, taking a snide shot at the notoriously sexist comic book world. When she posted the drawings online, this joke became the massively successful Haweye Initiative. Later she gained a following under the name “gingerhaze” with her hipster fan art of the Lord of the Rings characters.
This female-centric cartoonist has had a year that would make most traditional male cartoon creators Hulk green with envy. Right out of college, she got jobs with Frederator, Pumpkin Studios, Boom!, Random House, and MacMillan Press! Her serialized web comic Nimona was adapted into a young adult graphic novel and made the New York Times best-sellers list. She co-launched the wildly successful all-girl comic series, Lumberjanes, which has also been published in graphic novel format. Big name movie companies bought the film rights to both Nimona and Lumberjanes. She was awarded the Slate Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Web Comic for Nimona. And to top it all off, she and the rest of the Lumberjanes team walked away with the 2015 Eisners for Best New Series award and the Best Publication for Teens award!
The Lumberjane’s first graphic novel collects issues one through four. The idea for the series came from Boom! editor Shannon Watters, and after Ross Richie, company CEO, helped her flesh out the idea, they approached Grace Ellis to write the project. She brought in Noelle as a co-writer and Brooke A. Allen for character design. Shannon and Brooke did the illustrations.
Noelle’s one big disappointment is that all-male teams are screenwriting both the Nimona and the Lumberjanes movies. Though she has never written for screen, she would have liked to have a chance to prove that girls are just as good as the good-old-boys in the film industry.
Lately she has been working as a writer for Marvel on the comics Thor Annual and Runaways. She is also part of the writing team for Disney’s animated TV series Wander Over Yonder. She makes her home in Los Angeles, California. In her spare time, she still enjoys drawing superheroes and talking about bad TV on Tumblr and Twitter.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
“How Noelle Stevenson Broke All the Rules to Conquer the Comic Book World”: Vanity Fair
Author biographpy: Wikipedia
Author & Illustrator interview: Comics Alliance
Also by Noelle Stevenson:
Nimona. Harperteen. 2015.
Lumberjanes (Books 10-17) with Shannon Watters. Boom! Box. 2015.
Lumberjanes (Books 2-9) with Grace Ellis. Boom! Box. 2015.
about the illustrator
Besides being a kickass artist, Shannon Watters is an editor at KaBoom and Boom! Studios, and some say that she is responsible for the company’s commercial and critical success for their all-ages imprints. She hand-picks the cartoonists, looking for unique voices. She especially likes web-cartoonists because they are incredibly self-disciplined in their story telling and schedule managing.
Shannon also directs Boom! Box, an experimental imprint that publishes Lumberjanes. She is really proud that the series has been nominated for a GLAAD award for the way they handled qay characters (Molly and Mal), making them fully rounded human beings. Rather than focusing on a coming-out story, family conflict, or bullying, it centers on being accepted for who they are and on crushes. After all, crushes are positively normal. In future issues of the Lumberjanes comic, Shannon will be helping with the writing along with her co-artist Brooke Allen.
Shannon’s grandmother reads Lumberjanes the minute the new issue is released and then calls with advice about the weird stuff! Shannon’s favorite character is the “very femmy” April, and she thinks Taylor Swift would make an awesome Lumberjane in the movie!
Sources:
Illustrator interview: Paste Magazine
Author & Illustrator interview: Entertainment Weekly
Illustrator interview: Comics Reporter
Also Illustrated by Shannon Watters:
Lumberjanes (Books 18-19) illustrated with Brooke A. Allen. Boom! Box. 2015.
Lumberjanes (Books 10-17) illustrated with Brooke A. Allen. Boom! Box. 2015.
about the illustrator
Brooke A. Allen, a twenty-six-year-old cartoon illustrator, churns out comic book panels from her home in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington D.C. She sleeps just three or four hours a day and doesn’t take off on holidays! She’s rocket fast, usually producing twenty-two pages of cartoons a month. She best likes drawing at around 3 a.m.; with lots of coffee, that is when she claims to be the clearest.
Brooke was not your normal kid growing up in Wilmington, North Carolina. While her seven-year-old friends were enthusing over The Little Engine that Could, she was scaring herself silly with Stephen King’s graphic illustrated book, Cycle of the Werewolf, which she had to keep hidden from her fundamentalist Christian parents. By middle school, she wanted to be an animator and set up a school club where all the members drew Disney characters, then copied and distributed them. It was her first foray into publishing.
A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Brooke particularly enjoys drawing scenes and characters that break out of the norm, such as the gay characters in the Lumberjanes. She wanted to make sure that there was nothing ambiguous about them. Before Lumberjanes came along, she was disappointed that she couldn’t find a single character in a comic she could relate too. So when Shannon Watters mentioned the concept, it was like a light bulb just popped on in her head! Here finally was a comic just like she wanted when she was a kid!
Still it is grueling to translate Noelle’s and Graces scripts into panels. The hardest part is keeping the characters streamlined while finding the right blend of easy readability, complexity, and humor that makes it enjoyable for any age.
So far she has earned a platinum “Up All Night” Lumberjane’s badge for her work on the series. Now that she is also going to be helping with the writing, she is hoping to earn a “Time Management” badge this year. When she isn’t churning out cartoon panels, she makes signs for the Foggy Bottom Trader Joe’s and draws covers for other Boom! comics.
Sources:
Author & Artist interview: Women Write About Books
Illustrator interview: Washington City Paper
Also by Brooke A. Allen:
Lumberjanes (Books 18-19) illustrated with Shannon Watters. Boom! Box. 2015.
Lumberjanes (Books 10-17) illustrated with Shannon Watters. Boom! Box. 2015.
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Best buddies Jo, April, Mal. Molly, and Ripley are having the best summer possible at the Lumberjane’s camp and they aren’t going to let any supernatural critters and insane quest get in their way. After stumbling on a mysterious force wreaking havoc on the camp, they defy their strict counselor Jen once again and race off through the woods to save not only their friends but maybe the whole entire world!